1st Semi-Final: England v Sri Lanka at Gros Islet

[pcfan123]

How much of Malinga have Kieswetter and Lumb seen? Any?

Mahela has failed in all the big games so far, Jayasuria gives a chance within the first over he faces, Dilshan is awful right now. Id say Sanga and Matthews are the only ones to worry about.

 

[MUFC1987]

I mainly meant Jayawardene, Sangakarra, Mathews and Kapugedera. But Dilshan and Jayasuriya are both players who could get going, no matter how bad their form is. We need to watch those first 4 though. I think their bowling is less of a worry, as apart from Malinga and Mendis, they're relatively ordinary in this tournament.

 

[angryangy]

Very interesting match. England will be considered favorites, but the Lankans picked up things at the right time. Mathews came into form and Kapugedara who I thought is a pretty ordinary T20 batsmen, defied the odds with a brilliant knock. However they need their pacers to pick themselves up.

You have to be careful with how you judge Kapugedera, that's how he does things. He'll give you a glimpse of why he's in the team and why they think so much of him, but he'll not do anything like it again for a long time.

 

[King Pietersen]

They won't have seen any of Malinga, or Mendis. Hopefully KP'll keep his form up, same with Morgan and it'd be nice to see Collingwood actually do something with the bat.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

jayawardene has a terrific record against england though, there his best average in ODIs and he does extremely well in tests against them.

in fact sri lanka on the whole has done well against england in all formats, except that one of the reasons for that is murali who england have never coped with.

I still fancy england because overall they've simply been better this tournament, but sri lanka have the weapons to hurt them if they fire.

 

[War]

Interesting to hear Collingwwood say this is the most powerful England limited overs side he has played in. I wonder if he remembers this XI from earlier in his career:

1st ODI: New Zealand v England at Christchurch, Feb 13, 2002 | Cricket Scorecard | Cricinfo.com

Trescothick
Knight
Hussain
Thorpe
Flintoff
Collingwood
White
Foster
Giles
Gough
Caddick

Alec Stewart would have played if he had toured as well instead of Foster.

 

[ali_ed2001]

^ I would say the current bowling attack is better. Only Gough is the standout. Flintoff wasn't the same in 2002 as he was say in 2005 and beyond.

 

[Aoun13]

^^ Caddick was in very good form in 2002 but still both teams looks quite equal if we will have an extensive comparison of them.

 

[AkshayS]

Pietersen wasn't there, Flintoff not in good flow, never considered Thorpe as a good ODI player. He was too slow for it and never had a hundred. Treskothick was a sheer class but Prior is better than Foster.
Bowling attack looks pale.

 

[Mike23]

This will be a good match but without murali i don't see us winning this.Sri Lanka's XI

1.Tillekaratne Dilshan
2.Mahela Jayawardene
3.Kumar Sangakkara(c,wk)
4.Angelo Mathews
5.Chamara Kapugedera
6.Dinesh Chandimal / Chintaka Jayasinghe
7.Sanath Jayasuriya (playing mainly as a bowler)
8.Thisera Perera
9.Thilan Thushara / Chanka Welegedara
10.Suraj Randiv
11.Lasith Malinga

England's XI

1.Michael Lumb / Ravi Bopara
2.Craig Kieswetter(WK)
3.KP
4.Paul Collingwood(C)
5.Eoin Morgan
6.Luke Wright
7.Michael Yardy
8.Tim Bresnan
9.Graeme Swann
10.Stuart Broad
11.Jimmy Anderson

 

[Themer]

Trescothick
Knight
Hussain
Thorpe
Flintoff
Collingwood
White
Foster
Giles
Gough
Caddick

The current ODI team is alot better than that so I fail to see your point.

 

[romilmars]

I am supporting England!

 

[Dabi]

Any predictions as to how much Sri Lanka would score today?
I'm going with 165-170.

 

[King Pietersen]

Delighted we're bowling first. Think the pressure could have got to us batting first. You can't lose the game in the first 5 overs with the ball, but you can with the bat. Hopefully it'll go well for us.

 

[Dutch]

Come on England! England has the players to chase any total Sri Lanka can muster! Feeling confident!